“These officers will oversee the entire poll processes as eyes and ears of the Commission on the ground to ensure free, fair and voter-friendly elections,” the official statement said.
The Election Commission of India (EC) on Tuesday appointed 15 former civil servants as special observers to supervise and monitor the work being done by the electoral machinery for the upcoming Assembly elections to Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
“The Special Observers will be supervising and monitoring the work being done by the electoral machinery in their assigned States and ensure that stringent, effective enforcement action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through CVigil, voter helpline etc," the election body said in a statement.
“These officers will oversee the entire poll processes as eyes and ears of the Commission on the ground to ensure free, fair and voter-friendly elections,” it added.
Fifteen former civil servants who hold an impeccable and brilliant track record of domain expertise and have past experience with election processes have been included in the team as Special Observers for the current poll going states, the official statement said.
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Welcoming the Special Observers, CEC Sushil Chandra said that the overarching spirit of deploying Special Observers is to objectively assess the poll preparedness, identify the critical gaps and guide the electoral machinery in the field to ensure impartial, inducement free, peaceful and Covid safe elections.
Chandra pointed out that each election is unique in itself, has its own logistics and challenges, yet higher voter turnout has to be encouraged. Special Observers thus need to be vigilant and be in touch with the Commission on a real-time basis throughout the entire election process and should bring to the notice of the Commission any corrective measures required, he said. All vulnerable areas have to be attended to and adequate confidence-building measures are undertaken.
He added that ECI wishes to provide a hassle-free experience to voters at each Polling station which has been provided with Assured Minimum facilities especially for Persons with Disabilities. Postal Ballot for senior citizen 80+yrs voters is another facility provided. Polling stations have been made Covid protocol compliant and voter-friendly.